The former Australian Open and US Open champion won 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 in 2hr 50min for a hard-fought victory, breaking the curse of their home courts, where Russia had lost both of their previous Davis Cup finals -- to Sweden in 1994 and to the United States in 1995.

"I'm happy to win in front of my home fans," Safin said after the match. "It was really hard to win today as I experienced serious problems with the surface as I failed to adjust my playing to the carpet."

"I'm glad I won in four sets. I was sure Nikolay (Davydenko) would win his match but after he lost I was pretty nervous. I also have problems with my heel and knees. I was afraid I could lose the match if I failed to win the tiebreak."

"I'm very happy for all of us and all of our fantastic supporters," he added.

Safin, 26, who won only one of his previous three meetings with Acasuso, came out firing, breaking his rival's first service game to move ahead 3-0, which proved enough to serve out the first set in 30 minutes.

In the second the 24-year-old Argentine bounced back to break Safin's serve in the sixth game and level at one set all.

Spurred by a capacity 11,000 home crowd Safin's confidence seemed to return in the third set and he broke twice to Acasuso's once to take a 2-1 lead.

The fourth was a tight affair that was finally decided by a tiebreak, with Safin edging it 7-5 after some brilliant back court defence was followed by Acasuso netting a forehand as he moved up the court.

That sent the partisan home fans into rapturous applause.

Earlier on Sunday world number eight David Nalbandian of Argentina beat Russia's Nikolay Davydenko 6-2, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in two hours 39 minutes to level the scores at 2-2.

With Russia taking a 2-1 lead after Saturday's doubles rubber, the 24-year-old Nalbandian had no choice but to step up to the plate and deliver to keep his country in contention.